UPDATE: Company pays $47,000 for diesel spill in Little Sugar Creek

CHARLOTTE, NC - In November 2015, diesel fuel drained from an uptown Parkway Properties building through the storm drainage system and into Little Sugar Creek.

The petroleum sheen was spotted as far as 11 miles downstream of its origin. Impacts were most apparent along Little Sugar Creek greenway from the Midtown area to Park Road Shopping Center where ducks, turtles and fish died from fuel exposure.

As a result, Parkway Properties, Inc. said they've paid $46,990, including $37,765 for clean-up costs, $4,225 for the civil penalty assessed by the City of Charlotte, and $5,000 voluntarily donated to the Carolina Waterfowl Rescue.

In addition, the company said they're paying for upgrades to the building’s fuel system to prevent future spills.

The civil penalty was based on the City’s Stormwater Pollution Control Ordinance Penalty/Enforcement guidance document.

As mandated by state law, money collected from civil penalties across the state is deposited into the Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund and transferred to local education agencies via the State Public School Fund. This fund provides more than $130 million per year to the North Carolina public schools budget.

The majority of the spill was cleaned up within three days. It is estimated 90 percent of the fuel discharged into the creek was recovered.